SELECTSHRED | DO YOU REALLY NEED A CERTIFICATE OF DESTRUCTION?
“I don’t need your certificate of destruction because I can do my own shredding.” This statement is usually delivered smugly on the phone or in person. However, when you or your business has been legally charged with safeguarding the confidential information in your custody, the statement “get it in writing” is quite meaningful and not having it in writing is quite costly. When a NAID AAA certified company shreds for you, you are getting it in writing at your location when the shredding job has been completed. The certificate of destruction is your legal record from a third party vendor. It is documentation that you have done everything you could do to safeguard your sensitive information.
No law enforcement agency is going to fine you or jail you because of an alleged data breach. Investigations must happen and when you can point your finger to the agreement or contract with a shredding company and produce your certificates of destruction, you have certainly displayed the level of responsibility that your customers or clients deserve. You have made yourself and your organization shine because you took the initiative to have a document security program in place. If you are the owner or CEO, your employees appreciate that you did not place them in a situation where they have to defend themselves because there is a security breach that they probably should have prevented, and for which you might try to hold them accountable, but they did not have the authority to put the service in place to protect customers/clients, themselves, officers, and the company.
Don’t write off that piece of paper as just another piece of paper that you don’t need. When you outsource your shredding, it is more secure and less expensive that shredding it yourself. Whatever federal regulation governs your industry, FACTA (credit report information), HIPAA (healthcare) and GLBA (financial), shredding will meet the necessary compliance and the certificate of destruction is your legal document to show that your records were transferred to the custody of your shredding service and have been properly destroyed.
Richard & Gloria Kinkead
SelectShred, Inc.
T: (772) 463-3166
